ISABEL Oh please, but didn't Neith say anything then?
L. Yes. She said, quite quietly, "It may be very pretty, my love;
but it is all nonsense."
ISABEL. Oh dear, oh dear; and then?
L. Well; then I was a little angry myself, and hoped St. Barbara
would be quite angry; but she wasn't. She bit her lips first; and
then gave a great sigh--such a wild, sweet sigh--and then she
knelt down and hid her face on Neith's knees. Then Neith smiled a
little, and was moved.
ISABEL. Oh, I am so glad!
L. And she touched St. Barbara's forehead with a flower of white
lotus; and St. Barbara sobbed once or twice, and then said: "If
you only could see how beautiful it is, and how much it makes
people feel what is good and lovely; and if you could only hear
the children singing in the Lady chapels!" And Neith smiled,--but
still sadly,--and said, "How do you know what I have seen, or
heard, my love? Do you think all those vaults and towers of yours
have been built without me? There was not a pillar in your
Giotto's Santa Maria del Fiore which I did not set true by my
spear-shaft as it rose. But this pinnacle and flame work which has
set your little heart on fire, is all vanity; and you will see
what it will come to, and that soon; and none will grieve for it
more than I.
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